Hall of Famer Bob Myers promoted clean properties of propane

Bob Myers, a global expert and consultant on the use of propane as a motor fuel and a member of the inaugural class of the LP Gas Hall of Fame, died Aug. 28 at the age of 88.

Myers had been battling leukemia for the past nine months, Tiffany Myers, his daughter, shared with LP Gas.

Myers spent more than 50 years in the propane industry. His career began as a Petrolane driver trainee in the early 1960s, but his technical knowledge and passion for autogas led him to direct the company’s autogas conversion and service center operations across the country. He also became the company’s vice president of marketing. He left Petrolane in 1990 to form the LP Gas Clean Fuels Coalition, which worked to get propane recognized in the landmark Clean Air Act of 1990 and the Energy Policy Act of 1992. He served as an adviser for the Western Propane Gas Association; the California Air Resources Board and the state’s energy commission; the Propane Education & Research Council; and the World LP Gas Association (known today as the World Liquid Gas Association).

Myers was known for his vast knowledge of the propane industry and those who led it. Those who knew Myers recalled his generosity in helping others with a project and his tenacity in carrying it out.

In his Hall of Fame induction year of 2012, he continued to promote propane autogas, saying, “I am very encouraged that we are going to have an impact again.”

He was joined in that class by Mark Anton (Suburban Propane), John Blossman (Blossman Gas), James Ferrell (Ferrellgas), Sam McTier (McTier Supply Co.), Walter Snelling (American Gasol Co.), Milford Therrell (Squibb-Taylor Inc.), H. Emerson Thomas (Continental Tank Car Co.) and John Wallace (Petrolane).

Minnesota roots

Myers was born in tiny Murdock, Minnesota, growing up on a dairy farm with his three brothers and sister. He attended St. Cloud State University and served in the Peace Corps after starting at Petrolane, spending three years in the Dominican Republic. He received his MBA from Pepperdine University and spent much of his career in marketing.

Myers met his wife, Francine, while working at Petrolane, where two of his brothers, Jim and John, also worked. Bob and Francine, who would have celebrated 60 years of marriage this December, spent the past 23 years in Boulder, Colorado, where Tiffany resides with her husband, Steffan Knapp.

Tiffany says the family laughs when looking at their vacation photos because her dad would often include propane cylinders in the shots.

“My mom would say propane was his hobby,” she says. “He was happy to convert people to use propane. There wasn’t anything he didn’t like about it. He was even excited to bring me home a curling iron that ran on small propane cartridges.”

Bob and Francine enjoyed traveling extensively all over the world, Tiffany says, and her dad was also a “voracious reader,” mostly of nonfiction books. Skiing was the family’s sport.

They developed lifelong friends, many through the propane industry because, Tiffany says, her dad didn’t draw a line between his personal and professional life.

The family will hold a celebration of life Oct. 4 in Boulder.

“With all things checked off his bucket list, there were no regrets,” Tiffany says. “We would say it was a life well lived.”

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